What We Do

Nearly half of the world’s population — more than 3.5 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. More than 700 million people live in extreme poverty (less than USD $1.90 a day), the majority of whom are in Africa and Asia.

Aga Khan Foundation Canada tackles the root causes of this poverty through a holistic and interconnected set of programs. These initiatives address people’s most pressing needs and enable them to unlock their full potential, with a particular focus on marginalized groups like women and girls.

Our programs aim to ensure access to high-quality education and health care, ensure food security, improve economic well-being, and develop resilient communities and societies. We bring together human, financial, and technical resources to some of the poorest and most marginalized communities, with an emphasis on women and girls, investing in human potential, expanding opportunity, and improving quality of life.

Women’s rights in Afghanistan: What has been gained, and what is at risk

Mellissa Fung’s reporting project focused on women’s rights in post-NATO Afghanistan.

Safe House: Child marriage and “the cutting season” in Tanzania

Marc Ellison’s reporting project focused on child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) in Tanzania.

Sowing the seeds of potential: Women

While program has transformed lives in the classroom, it has lifted up women in the community as well.

Women delivering change

Jane Wanyama is the CEO of Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu. Her position is rare for a woman in East Africa – or for that matter, anywhere in the world.

Sowing the seeds of potential: Transforming teachers

The Madrasa Program also transforms the lives of the teachers who come through its doors, by training existing and future teachers.

New opportunities, at their fingertips

Across Aga Khan Foundation’s global education programs, I’d often heard about school classrooms that held upwards of eighty, one hundred, even two hundred students at one time.

Sowing the seeds of potential

The first 1,000 days of a child’s life, it is said, sets the stage for all future growth.

Daring to Deliver: Midwives on the Frontlines

Midwives are often on the frontlines of health care in developing countries, delivering crucial patient-centered care to women and their

Meet Mwatime: How this 7-year-old can get access to quality education

The world’s 1.1 billion girls are a source of power, energy, and creativity.